


Performance Class Last Year, Act 1

by undeadinside



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abduction, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Dates, Bisexual Character, Body Horror, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Fluff and Angst, Gaslighting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Lesbian Character, Matter Experimentation, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), POV Original Female Character, POV Third Person, Pansexual Character, Parental Abuse, Science Experiments, Tags Contain Spoilers, Trans Female Character, Trauma, Trigger warnings in chapter notes., but dont worry the abuse situation gets resolved in the first part, have i already said to read Adventures in Solitude by jdphobe on ao3?, read Adventures in Solitude by jdphobe on Ao3.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24602296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undeadinside/pseuds/undeadinside
Summary: The story of 25 actors, their teacher, a few other people, and some really fucked up dudes who are just... fucked up. That's it for the first part.Warning: this fic deals with some heavy stuff, so trigger warnings will be in the chapter pre-notes for chapters which deal with triggering content. I'll do my best to space it out, so there isn't a lot of uncomfortable content at once.
Relationships: APAC Students/Yuuna Yamazaki | Yamazaki-sensei, Akio Inoue & Ichiro Shiseri, Atsumi Kawaguchi & Aiya Okazawa, Atsumi Kawaguchi & Toichiro Sugiyama, Atsumi Kawaguchi/Aiya Okazawa, Atsumi Kawaguchi/Yuuna Yamazaki | Yamazaki-sensei, Daishi Hayashi & Hina Sanayoshi, Hekima Fukui & Tetsuka Tsukada, Hekima Fukui/Tetsuka Tsukada, Ichiro Shiseri & Sayaka Kuroda, Kichisuke Mochizuki & Reyan Kanda, Rinka Okazawa & Aiya Okazawa, Toichiro Sugiyama/Kenkou Nakahara
Kudos: 1





	Performance Class Last Year, Act 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've wanted to get to for a long time. Here we go! By the way, some stuff may not be working right now, so if it's not, just bring it up to me. I'm troubleshooting it right now. Content warnings for gaslighting, mentions of abuse, psychological distress, and mild to moderate parental abuse. (I'm sorry if this isn't a good way to start the story, but it gets less dark in two chapters.)

Tetsuka was having a bad day. She was lost, and didn’t know where the hell here friends were. Clutching a flashlight tightly, she made her way down the hallway she was in, looking around carefully for her goal. As she turned a corner, someone faced her. She didn’t recognize them, and they clearly did not recognize her. The person in question struck her in the head with something made of metal, and she fell to the ground.

_Five Weeks Earlier._

Atsumi Kawaguchi turned in her sleep. She turned, and scrambled to get away from a creature that wasn’t there, and scrambled all the way off her bed and onto the floor, waking her up. “Shit,” she grumbled. After walking to her dresser on the other side of the room and throwing on a shirt, she checked the clock: 6:31 AM. Her mom would be waking up soon, so she had to leave the house before that. She hurriedly put on her uniform and grabbed the lunch she made for herself the night before. Then, being careful to close the door quietly, she started jogging to the nearest train station, and boarding the train. Once she found a spot to stay at for the train ride to school, she pulled out her phone and opened up the class group chat.

[Atsumi] what’s up

[Atsumi] anyone know what the math homework was for last night

[Toichiro] We... we didn’t have any. Are you okay in the head?

[Atsumi] oh. Just me then? ok

[Atsumi] could be better tbh

[Atsumi] anyway see yall @ school

“Last stop, Usuki Station. I repeat, last stop, Usuki Station,” a voice over the intercom rang out, jarring Atsumi from her languid state as she realized it was her stop. She got off the train and resumed jogging the two blocks to her school, the globally recognized Usuki Performing Arts Academy. It was opened in the 1970s, so it wasn’t terribly old, only 5 decades old. As she started walking towards the school, Tetsuka, Toichiro, and Ichiro started to walk beside her. 

“So,” Ichiro said, nudging Atsumi with his elbow, “How’s the whole Okazawa thing going? “Yeah! Have you talked to her?” Tetsuka asked. Aiya Okazawa was one of Atsumi’s friends, who she was not embarrassed to admit that she had a crush on. Well, to literally anyone except the girl herself, that is. She was also one of Okazawa’s classmates, along with Toichiro Sugiyama, Tetsuka Tsukada, and Ichiro Shiseri, among others. It was also their second year together in the same class, with only one new person joining, in the place of a student who had left. As they walked to their first class of the day, they passed by some familiar faces. Sayaka Kuroda, head of the AV club, talking with Hekima Fukui and Aiya Okazawa, all three of whom were also in their class. Sitting on a staircase arguing, were Akane Konishi, Ryouta Maeda, and Kichisuke Mochizuki. Drinking an espresso and chatting with Saeko Kamiuchi, who was in the art club, was Mai Shimaseki, who waved idly to them. 

Atsumi checked her phone to get the time, and realized that class started quite soon. So, she got the attention of her friends, and together they made their way to their class. The day flew by, and soon enough, it was lunchtime. Their last class, Advanced Performing Arts, was after, so they got together and sat outside by the theater, where APA class took place. After a few minutes of silence, Toichiro spoke up.

“So, uh... what play did we decide on? For, erm... like, what play are we gonna do this trimester?” Toichiro questioned.

“Damn, yeah. Do any of you guys remember? I sure don’t.” Atsumi continued.

“Castle of Hell,” Akane replied. “How did you forget that, Sugiyama? You were the one who suggested it.” 

“Shit, I don’t know. Guess I just forgot.”

“Like you forgot to tell us about the tech booth being on the fritz last year, which caused the whole show to go to hell?” Akane joked.

“Yeah, that really sucked. I don’t know how we didn’t have to refund everyone for that show, with everything that happened.” Mai said.

“Can we... not talk about that, _please?_ ” Sayaka implored. Then, she peered at Atsumi’s lunch. “What is that? That looks good!”

“Takoyaki,” Atsumi said. “I cooke-” Atsumi was promptly cut off by Chuichi, who chuckled to himself. “What’s so funny, Ishikawa.”

“So, your thing is tentacles, huh? Alright. A little weird, but respect.” Chuichi was grinning smugly, and Atsumi was super flustered.

“No, I don’t have a tentacle kink, Ishikawa! Just... knock it off, okay? Damn. You can honestly be pretty annoying when you want to be.” Atsumi retorted.

“You _totally_ have a tentacle kink, Kawaguchi.”

“And, now let’s move very far away from this topic of conversation!” Aiya said, a little louder than intended.

“Thank you! Thank you very much, I did not want to discuss that!” Ichiro said. “So what were we talking about before Ishikawa said the tentacle thing?”

“The play. Wait, no, we already talked about that. Is Yamazaki-sensei still directing this year?” Sayaka asked.

“I think she’s letting us direct this year, Kuroda.” Aiya responded.

“Nice!” Ryouta shouted. “Wait, who’s gonna direct?”

“Obviously, the business of directing the plays for this year will fall to Shiseri and myself,” Akio declared. “Who else would have the experience to?”

“Wow. You’re sure cocky today. Any particular reason for that?” Toichiro asked, before winking.

“Why, what reason would you have for winking after your statement? Are you implying something?” Akio said theatrically.

“Alright. Keep your secrets. It isn’t my business what you do behind closed doors.” Toichiro grumbled. Then, he turned to Mai, who was scribbling something in a notebook or something. “Yo, Shimaseki, what you doing there?”

“Drawing,” Mai stated. When he looked at the picture, Toichiro realized it was a drawing of a crane.

“That’s a pretty good drawing, Shimaseki. You should sell it,” Toichiro suggested.

“W-what? No, I’m not gonna sell it. It matters a lot to me!” Mai disagreed.

“Eh. Your call, but I think you could make some good money.” Toichiro relented, before getting up from where he was sitting and packing stuff back into his bag. “So you and Shiseri are directing this year, huh? That’s sure gonna be interesting,” Toichiro continued, turning to Akio.

“Thank you.” Akio replied curtly. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, eating or doing work for other classes, until the bell rang. Then, the group of classmates made their way across the street to the theater. Once they got to the theater, they sat in various spots around the theater, sitting and idly talking, before their teacher, one Yuuna Yamazaki, walked on stage and started to take roll. As she called out the students’ names, a few of them started to talk to each other.

“Hey, Akimura? Are you gonna do tech again this year?”

“You want to go to that Miku concert that’s coming round here in a few months?”

“Whoa! That’s a cool guitar.”

“Dude, is that your ninth espresso today? You’re gonna get an aneurysm or something.

“That’s not how aneurysms work, idiot.”

“No, I think I’ll try out acting. Nothing too big, though.”

“Is that a date? Well, maybe. I mean, you are kinda my type.”

“Thanks. I made it. It’s mine.”

“Alright. You’ll just collapse and be paralyzed because the excess energy will have nowhere to go and spread out through your body until you’re a mass of flesh twitching on the ground, in horrible pain.”

“What... I don’t think that’s how that works.” The cacophony of voices grew louder and more unruly, before the voice of their teacher cut them off.

“Excuse me! Could you all please be quiet for a bit, and pay attention? I’m about to say something very important, so focus on me for a moment. Thank you.” As Yamazaki-sensei’s voice rang out through the theater, all voices immediately silenced and all eyes were locked on her. Yuuna Yamazaki was their Advanced Performing Arts teacher, and had been the school’s premier Performing Arts teacher since the school’s founding. She taught three classes, Introductory Performing Arts, Advanced Performing Arts, and Nonpareil Performing Arts, which was the highest level class, and Yamazaki-sensei was infinitely more selective about the students that went into that class than she was the other classes, since that class’ students were those that went out into the world already with legendary reputations, and those who received the highest level of tutelage. And, considering the amount of work she put into her lessons, it was a surprise that she wasn’t dead, considering she was turning 72 this year.

“We’re starting our first play for this year. Most of you already know this, and think we will be performing Castle of Hell. Spoiler alert: we’re not. We have to do a different play. The school board was being problematic. I’m sorry. Luckily, I have one selected. A play called Falsehood. It’s a good one. I will hand out scripts, and we begin casting tomorrow. That’s all. You can keep talking now,” Yamazaki-sensei finished, returning to a room adjacent to the theater main. The room was silent for a while, before murmurs of conversation started to pop up.

“What do you mean, we aren’t directing it? I already memorized the script and planned a cast!”

“This is super stupid. Why do we have to do another play?”

“This sucks. Are we… do we even get the scripts today?”

“No, dude. We aren’t NPA. We’re lower priority.”

“This is dumb as hell. Let’s just go.”

“Oh my god, this is so lame.”

“Be proud of this! It’s actually quite hard to get into this class, if you don’t compare it to NPA.”

“Well, I say we just get out of here and get crepes. I know a place down the street.”

“Nah. I don’t skip for crepes. That would be the worst thing to skip for.”

“Wait, are you talking about the crepe shop run by old man Yamasaki? Those are awesome, let’s go there!”

A shout echoed from behind the stage. “I can hear you, you know!”

“Well, there goes _that_ plan. Damn. I really wanted some crepes today.”

“Hey, don’t worry! We can just go after school! Who’s in?”

“Me.”

“Why not? Not like I have anything better to do.”

“If you’re hyping it up, it’s probably worth a try. Sure.”

“Anyone else coming with?”

“Sounds good. I’m kinda hungry, anyways.”

“I’m down.”

“That everyone?

“I thnk so.”

“Okay. I’ll make a group chat so we can make plans.” Kenkou pulled out their phone, and tapped at the screen a few times, before some got notifications on their own phones.

_Kenkou Nakahara and 5 others were added to “Crepe Gang”_

_Kenkou Nakahara: This everyone?_

_Ichiro Shiseri: im here, but please don’t @ me, im in enough of these_

_Toichiro Sugiyama: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

_Hina Sanayoshi: Maybe i shouldn’t have joined this_

_Daishi Hayashi: eh we can always mute it_

_Akane Konishi: i'm the last one so yea, this is everyone._

The group of six went off to the side and started discussing their after-school crepe run, leaving the others standing and talking at various spots around the theater. Atsumi sat by herself, since the people that she would normally talk to were all doing something else. It was rather lonely, but after years of being brushed off in favor of others, she was used to it. She sat there in her own sad thoughts, before Osamu Shinoda, a kid who, despite being in her class each year for the past 3 years (they had gone to the same school), had never really spoken to Atsumi outside of common courtesy, sat down in the seat next to her.

“Hey, Atsumi. Inoue wanted to talk to you,” Osamu said. “Wait- have you been crying? Oh shit.” As he said this, Atsumi blinked and realized that she had, in fact, been crying. Though her shirt sleeve had absorbed most of the tears, there were still some visible on the surface of her glasses and on her face. “Are... are you okay?”

“Do I _look_ like I’m okay to you? Just... can you leave me alone? I’m fine,” Atsumi seethed.

“You clearly aren’t. Do you want me to-” Osamu was cut off.

“Fuck off, alright? I don’t want to, so if you could just leave me alone, I’d really appreciate it. It’s better that way. You don’t have to deal with me,” Atsumi fumed.

“Look, alright. If... if you insist.” And with that, Osamu left Atsumi alone to deal with herself. She was glad he left her alone. She dried her eyes with the other, dry, shirt sleeve, and chided herself. _God, Atsumi, you fucking idiot. Stupid bitch. You shouldn’t have treated him like shit. He was just trying to help, dammit. I should go apologize to him. Yeah, I’ll apologize. I’ll just stand up from my seat and walk over there and not be such a bitch. Uh huh. I’ll do that right now._ As Atsumi got up to apologize, she heard laughing from somewhere in the room. _God, they’re laughing at me. I’m a fucking loser. They probably heard me lash out and think I’m a freak. Ugh. If they hate me that much, why bother apologizing. Not like it’ll change anything._

“Ms. Kawaguchi? Could you please come see me in my office, please?” Yamazaki-sensei shouted from backstage.

“Yeah, Yamazaki-sensei. Got it.” Atsumi walked towards where her teacher’s office was, and walked in.

* * *

“So what time are we meeting up?” Daishi asked.

“What do you think? This is our last class. We just meet up after class, duh,” Hina said.

“Oh. Right.”

“So, Nakahara, what kinda stuff they got there?” Hina asked.

“Crepes! They’re delicious. The flavors coalesce and erupt on your tongue, it’s like eating velvet.” Nakahara replied eloquently.

“I was asking about flavors, Shakespeare. What flavors do they have?” Hina retorted.

“They? Aren’t we talking about one dude? Whatever. Old man Yamazaki makes a mean vegetable crepe, and the Peach Melba crepes he sells are pretty good too, and-” Kenkou was cut off.

“What the _fuck?_ Why the fuck would you put vegetables in a crepe?! Seriously?” Toichiro exploded, gesticulating wildly. “Genuinely. Honestly and truly, who would commit the greatest cardinal sin of all time that is putting. _Vegetables._ On a _crepe._ ”

“A lot of people, actually. I’m assuming you haven’t ever had savory crepes? They’re better than you’d expect.” Kenkou said, unfazed by Toichiro’s outburst. “How about this. I’ll pay you two thousand yen if you eat a whole vegetable crepe, and still think that they’re bad.”

“Deal,” Toichiro said.

“You mentioned Peach Melba crepes? Those sound good,” Ichiro said.

“Isn’t Peach Melba a dessert or something?” Akane questioned.

“Yeah. It’s of French origin, and was made-” Kenkou was cut off a second time.

“Where is it?” Hina interrupted.

“Oh, just down the street.” Kenkou replied. “And can you please quit interrupting me?”

“Didn’t the guy who runs that place used to work at that one crepe place in Tokyo?” Toichiro questioned.

“Which one? There are loads of ‘em.” Kenkou replied.

“The, uh... I don’t remember. If we ever both go to Tokyo together, I’ll point it out. I know it’s on…” Toichiro trailed off, idly twirling a long strand of hair hanging in front of his face. “Oh! Takeshita Dori! That’s where it is!”

Kenkou laughed. “That’s not really that helpful, Sugiyama. There are too many crepe shops to even _count_ at Takeshita Dori.”

“God, this uniform is starting to get kind of itchy. If we’re gonna go get food, can we at least change first?” Hina griped. “It’d suck to eat awesome crepes but be uncomfortable the whole time.”

“Yeah. And, if it’s just down the street, I’d rather not be recognized by folks. Because of our uniforms, you know.” Ichiro agreed.

“Okay, so we go home, get changed. What time are we going to meet up?” Kenkou asked.

“Four?” Daishi suggested.

“No, I live an hour away, even by train. The earliest I’d be able to make would be five,” Akane interjected.

“Okay. Five-thirty?” Hina added. “That way, we all have some extra time and, uh, leeway, if that’s the right word.”

“Five-thirty sounds good to me. How about you guys?” Kenkou asked.

“Yeah,” Daishi concurred.

“Works for me,” Akane replied.

“Alright,” Ichiro said.

“Mmmmkay,” Toichiro smirked. “And you’re for sure gonna lose that bet, Nakahara. Vegetable crepes can’t be good, so get ready to pay up.”

  
  


* * *

Atsumi hesitantly made her way through the stage area. Pushing past the red, fire-proof curtains and staring apprehensively at tape markings on the floor, as she traipsed through the hallway leading to backstage left, and eventually making it to a corner office adjacent to the dressing rooms (without a window in, obviously. That would be a literal crime, and Atsumi didn’t think that her teacher would commit an actual literal crime.) She rapped on the door four times with her knuckles, before it was opened by Yamazaki-sensei, holding a can of espresso out to her. She stared at it a minute, confused, before Yamazaki-sensei spoke.

“You’re supposed to take it, kid.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Atsumi took the can of espresso and opened it hastily, beginning to drink it before thinking and stopping, with a mouth full of espresso, and stared at her teacher, trying her best to convey an apology without speaking, because she had a mouth full of espresso.

“Go nuts, kid.” With that, Atsumi proceeded to chug the can, finishing it quickly. Then, she stared at the can again. She realized it was her favorite brand of espresso. Upon realizing this, she stared at her teacher quizzically, as she had no clue that Yamazaki-sensei knew her coffee preferences.

“Huh. Okay, out of all the things I thought was gonna happen, I didn’t expect this. Okay. Lemme just... lemme just process this all real quick.” Atsumi faltered.

“Take your time, Kawaguchi,” Yamazaki-sensei insisted. She gestured to a couch at the side of the room, which Atsumi sat at. Yamazaki-sensei grabbed the chair from her desk and dragged it over so she was facing Atsumi. 

“So... why did you call me here?” Atsumi asked. The big question right off the bat. Atsumi figured she might as well be direct. 

“We need to talk about something. I think you know what it is.” Yamazaki-sensei said. At those words, Atsumi flinched. Catching this, Yamazaki-sensei said “Wrong choice of words? I’m sorry. Let me rephrase that. Is there anything that you want to talk about?”

“No. I’m fine.” Atsumi said. “Can... can I go?”

“Well, let’s discuss some things first. Your pick. Just based on what’s happened since you entered the room, I’m sure you can find a topic to talk with me about.” Yamazaki-sensei, replied, waiting for a response.

“So... how did you know what my favorite type of coffee, much less espresso brand, is?” Atsumi asked.

“I pay attention. I know that sometimes when you enter class, you’re usually drinking one of those espresso cans, and that the quality of your acting and of your attitude is considerably lower than usual when you _are_. And I noticed that you didn’t really seem that okay today when you walked in, so I’m glad I got a lot of the coffee you like.” Yamazaki-sensei responded. “And... I know the thing about your acting makes it seem like I’m only helping you to improve your acting, that isn’t true. I genuinely do care about you all.”

Atsumi was shocked. “You... I… thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me. But... wait, why do you care so much? It... I’m not in your best class, why would you bother putting effort towards me- er, any of us?”

“Well, you aren’t the best of the best. You don’t have a legendary reputation. And you aren’t in InPA, so you have something to lose. You have the worst of both worlds. So this class is the most at-risk for... stressful mental things.” Yamazaki-sensei paused, giving Atsumi time to take in what she was saying. “Speaking of which, how’s your mother? Is she still being a petty abusive bitch? Do I need to go to your house and punch her teeth in?”

Atsumi tensed even more at that. “Can we... not talk about her? Please? I prefer to... not have her in my life as much as possible, even if she’s only being talked about in passing.”

“Alright. You got it. Anything else you wanna talk about?”

“Do you... do you put as much attention towards everyone else as you do towards me? ‘Cause... I don’t wanna feel like I’m getting special treatment,” Atsumi said hesitantly.

“Oh, Lord no, I wouldn’t give anyone special treatment. I care about my students equally.”

“Prove it, then.” Atsumi spoke with a surprising amount of conviction for someone who, just a moment before, was speaking timidly. “Tell me something that you would only know if you cared about everyone else like you do me.” 

“Alright, if that’s what I have to do to get you to trust me,” Yamazaki-sensei said. “I’m going to try and not reveal information for anybody if it’s too personal. How about this, Kawaguchi? Sugiyama, your friend, his hearing took a bit of a hit after one of his pranks went wrong. I assume you didn’t know this?”

“No? He… he never told me that.” Atsumi said, worriedly.

“Ah. I assume you were not privy to the prank, then. He put a firecracker in the backpack of a kid who’d been bullying him-“

“What the fuck? How would that go good for _either_ of them? Wouldn’t that set him on fire?!” Atsumi shouted.

“Well, it went wrong and exploded as he was putting it in his backpack. He didn’t get caught, but his hearing in his left ear isn’t as good as it used to be, by a good margin,” Yamazaki-sensei finished. “Are you happy?”

“Have- is he getting hearing aids or something?” Atsumi asked.

“No. He’s not. We talked it over, and, against my recommendations, he decided not to. He said something along the lines of, ‘I need to deal with the consequences of the dumb shit I do’ or something like that,” Yamazaki-sensei said.

“Okay, I believe you now,” Atsumi said.

“Can I ask one? It isn’t about your mom.” Yamazaki-sensei said.

“Why not?” Atsumi replied.

“What’s going on with you? You looked really stressed out before we talked,” Yamazaki-sensei spoke.

“How... how did you see that? I thought you were in your office?” Atsumi questioned.

“I have my ways, Kawaguchi. You would honestly be really surprised,” Yamazaki-sensei said.

“What? You got, like, a secret office or something?” Atsumi mocked.

“I don’t have time for your mocking, Kawaguchi.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“My turn. What got you so stressed today? I need to know, so I can help.” Yamazaki-sensei prompted.

“I…” Atsumi hesitated.

“Look, take your time. I need to know, though, so just make sure to say what you want to say by the end of the period.” Yamazaki-sensei replied calmly.

“Okay. I’m gonna try and explain it simply, I guess. Sorry. Umm... I... I was... lonely- yeah, lonely, I guess, and I was just being horrible and took it out on Shinoda. I’m really sorry, and I won’t do it again.” Atsumi made herself small, and spoke timidly. Yamazaki-sensei got up from where she was sitting slowly, and, slowly, made her way to Atsumi’s side and put her arm around her.

“I never told you to apologize. You don’t have to be sorry. And, no, you don’t have to be better. You’re fine just the way you are.” Yamazaki-sensei said.

“I- alright.”

“I’m going to try and infer what happened, and you tell me if I’m right or wrong, okay?” Yamazaki-sensei said calmly. “I’d say that you saw your friends being part of something you weren’t part of, and you felt lonely in a sense because of that, whether you felt excluded or isolated isn’t the issue, the issue is that you felt lonely, at least in this case. Am I right so far?”

“Right on all counts,” Atsumi assured. “Keep going.”

“You felt lonely and thought that nobody gave a flying fuck about you, and tensed up because that’s something that you usually feel in your homes, which is a whole different matter we’re talking about later, in much more detail. You ended up spiraling until Shinoda came to talk to you, and you snapped at him. And now we’re here. Am I correct?”

“Yeah, you are.” Atsumi affirmed.

“Did you apologize?” Yamazaki-sensei replied.

“No, I didn’t. I got laughed at from across the room,” Atsumi said tersely.

Yamazaki-sensei scoffed. “Seriously? The kids in this class wouldn’t laugh at you, especially if they knew you were having a panic attack of sorts. They may be stupid, but they aren’t assholes.”

“Well, what were they laughing at, then?” Atsumi asked.

“Probably one of Chuichi’s jokes. They’re actually quite funny,” Yamazaki-sensei said, before moving away from Atsumi. “So, you ready to go back to class and actually apologize to Shinoda?”

“Yeah, I think I am,” Atsumi replied. She got up, wiped the remaining drops of espresso from her mouth, and made the walk back to the theater main, looking for Shinoda to apologize. She found him sitting and talking to Maeda, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, umm, I want to apologize for being a total bitch earlier. It was totally uncool, and I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s all good. Just hope you’re feeling better, though.” Osamu said.

“Yeah, I’m better now,” Atsumi said, before walking over to her seat and sitting down. She sat and waited, absorbed in her own thoughts for a while, until the bell rang throughout the campus, causing her to stir and refocus on the world around her. She blinked a few times, yawned, and grabbed her bag. She got up and said her goodbyes to her friends, before taking the long walk to the train station. She pulled out her phone again, and opened the messaging app. Scrolling through it, she found the recipient she was looking for, and began drafting a message.

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] ~~hey hi i fucking love you so much, you’re amazing and can’t even comprehend how much you mean to me.~~ whats poppin okazawa??????????

[Aiya Okazawa] Hi, Kawaguchi! How are you?

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] great rn, im headin home tho so thats never fun. ~~my mom is super fucking abusive and it makes me want to die sometimes~~ how about you?

[Aiya Okazawa] Oh, I have some stuff to finish up here at school first, but I’m heading home soon enough.

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] ~~what are you doing?~~ neat. imma pop into the main class gc for a bit, still got like,,, a half hour or smth until i get home. anyways see u later

[Aiya Okazawa] Bye! See you later, Kawaguchi! 

Atsumi blushed, and exited the chat, returning to the main class group chat, where a debate was going on between Nakahara and Sugiyama.

[Toichiro Sugiyama] for the last time, vegetable crepes can’t be good and you should stop insisting as such.

[Kenkou Nakahara] Fine. Prepare to lose money, though.

[Toichiro Sugiyama] yoU know what? I don’t have to stand for this shit. i literally mod this gc. watch this, crepe fucker.

_Toichiro Sugiyama changed Kenkou Nakahara’s name to crepe fucker_

[crepe fucker] Oh, fuck you.

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] hsksjskjskjskshskhafdsgada lmfao damn u couldnt resist

[Toichiro Sugiyama] i’ll change ur name too, watch me bitch

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] my mom already calls me that enough, u dont gotta also

[Toichiro Sugiyama] o shit

[Toichiro Sugiyama] my bad, u ok?

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] can we discuss this in dms later and just pretend these messages didnt happen

[Toichiro Sugiyama] sure

_6 messages were deleted._

[Tetsuka Tsukada] AAAAAAANYWAYS, where were we

[Toichiro Sugiyama] youre next lmao, you shouldnt have said that

_Toichiro Sugiyama changed Tetsuka Tsukada’s name to tree lesbian_

[tree lesbian] I mean, youre not wrong

[Hina Sanayoshi] this is ridiculous

[Hina Sanayoshi] wait no-

[Toichiro Sugiyama] too late.

_Toichiro Sugiyama changed Hina Sanayoshi’s name to Lup Kinnie_

[Lup Kinnie] what does this even mean, sugiyama

[Daishi Hayashi] lmaoooooo this actually isnt that bad, im like the most normal out of yall do a nickname for me next

[Daishi Hayashi] it cant be that bad

_Toichiro Sugiyama changed Daishi Hayashi’s name to Barry Kinnie_

[Barry Kinnie] oh fuck you.

[Atsumi Kawaguchi] he do be shipping you

[Toichiro Sugiyama] Kawaguchi, you’re my friend, and you clearly have a lot of baggage you need to unpack, and I’m sorry, but it’s your turn now.

  
  


_Toichiro Sugiyama changed Atsumi Kawaguchi’s name to wants to get whipped with a gucci belt_

[wants to get whipped with a gucci belt] this is too long please change it, and no i do not

_Toichiro changed wants to get whipped with a gucci belt’s name to kawagucci_

Atsumi was surprised to hear the sound of the train announcement saying that she had already arrived, so sent a goodbye message to the chat, and got off the train. As she walked home, she contemplated the slip-up she had had, and that now, at least Sugiyama, not even considering the other classmates who may have seen the messages. She really did _not_ want to have that talk with Sugiyama about her mom. At all. But hey, she was home. She looked in through the window to make sure her mom wasn’t waiting in the foyer for her. She wasn’t. It appeared she was alone. _Thank fuck,_ Atsumi thought. _I’m not in a place to deal with her today._ She turned her key in the front door, taking her shoes off and sneaking down the basement stairs to her room. Well, it was less of a room, and more of a cell. Not a literal jail cell or anything, she had the internet and a small window, and a bed and stuff, the environment just felt... stifling, in a sense she couldn’t put her name on. She went over to her desk and sat down in the chair, opening a drawer and taking her daily estrogen medication. After that, she opened up her bag and pulled out her schoolwork, and began to do it, and the time, before she knew it, got really late. Atsumi got up from her desk and checked the time. _7:30_.

“Shit,” Atsumi grumbled to herself. “Gotta cook dinner.” She wiped her weary eyes, splashed some water on her face from the water bottle beside her desk, and made her way upstairs, to the kitchen, before seeing her mother in the dining room. She tried to avert her gaze and get started cooking, but was unable to avoid drawing her mother’s attention.

“Hello, Atsumi. What are you cooking for me tonight?” her mother asked calmly. Just with those words, Atsumi felt like she had fallen into a pit trap filled with jagged blades.

“Uh... I don’t know yet,” Atsumi quavered. “What... what do you want?

“Well, I don’t care at all what you cook. There’d better be enough for both of us, though,” Atsumi’s mom said.

“Y-yeah! Of course,” Atsumi hesitated, before walking to the kitchen, hearing one of her mother’s remarks.

“...make it better than last night’s dinner, at least, that was disgusting.”

“What’d you say? I didn’t hear you, mom.” Atsumi said.

“Don’t talk back to me, Atsumi. You don’t want to do that. Remember last time you talked back to one of your parents?” her mother said.

“I wasn’t talking back to you, mom-” Atsumi was cut off.

“ _Excuse me?_ ” Atsumi’s mom provoked. “...Ugh, it isn’t worth dealing with. Just cook your mediocre food, I’m going to get take-out.”

“Okay, first of all, why is your own fucking _daughter_ not worth dealing with?! That’s messed up. Second of all, my food isn’t mediocre,” Atsumi raised her voice, before her mother stood up, causing her to step back and flinch, her eyes widening.

“I never said you weren’t worth my time, Atsumi. You’re great to be around, when you aren’t... like this.” Atsumi’s mom walked around the table, and towards her daughter, who stepped back into the linoleum-tiled safety of the kitchen. “Your cooking could, frankly, be much better. It’s subpar at best, and I don’t know why you keep _insisting_ on cooking, especially if it isn’t any good. I could just get take-out every night. You wouldn’t have to stress yourself, either.”

“I- I like cooking! And I wouldn’t want to do that to you, mom. Just... just relax, and I’ll... uh... cook.” Atsumi shakily turned and started rifling through the pantry, before finding what she was looking for - a recipe book she had been writing in since middle school. She had dreamed of being a cook then, so started a recipe list, but after discovering a passion for acting, decided to pursue that career path instead. She still filled in the cookbook and used it a lot, it was one of her most treasured possessions. She leafed through it, before turning to a recipe for curry rice she had discovered online 2 years back, which she made a few edits to before she was satisfied with it. She got out the rice, and started boiling it, before grabbing some of the left-over chicken from a few nights ago and started chopping it into chunks, before leaving that at a cutting board and making the curry roux. After a while, she diced some potatoes and onions, and, with the chicken, dropped it into the now-finished curry roux, and pulled out the rice. To any outsider, Atsumi’s cooking would seem messy and unrefined, and that’s exactly how it is. Atsumi just did her best to manage everything, because even if it didn’t make sense to outsiders, it made perfect sense to her. She grabbed some extra-hot cajun spices and a pinch of garlic salt, adding it to the roux, and, being finished, she poured it over the rice. Then, she sniffed it. It smelled amazing. The whole smelling part of the cooking process was Atsumi’s favorite part. As she set her bowl down, she realized her mother wasn’t home.

“Well, I guess I’m eating dinner alone tonight,” Atsumi sighed to herself. She worried (and silently hoped, but wouldn’t admit that to herself) that her mom would probably end up totally forgetting she was going to get food for herself, and just end up getting drunk at a bar or something, and would end up passing out and not coming home. She pulled out her phone, which had amassed hundreds of notifications since she had closed it. _Damn, I really gotta mute this,_ she thought to herself as she reopened the class group chat, and observed the aftermath of a war.

[Lup Kinnie] So, Sugiyama, for the last time, explain what this name means, or I will kick you in the nuts at school tomorrow.

[Toichiro Sugiyama] if u know,,,,,, u know

[kawagucci] what thefuck happened here lmao 

[kawagucci] o shit hold on what the

_kawagucci changed Toichiro Sugiyama’s name to suwugiyama_

[suwugiyama] what the fuck.,,,,,,./??

[molotov cocktail lesbian] oh right kawaguchi has mod privleges

[kawagucci] who are you (also i have mod privileges so dont f w/ me)

[molotov cocktail lesbian] fukui

[kawagucci] whats w the name??!?!!

[suwugiyama] she seems like the type to commit arson

[tree lesbian] exCUSE me? my gf woudnt commit arson, sugiyama

[shakespeare ripoff] Oh, you two are dating?

[kawagucci] thats inoue right

[Barry Kinnie] yup.

[kawagucci] anyways have yall made out in the tech booth yet

[spooky art bitch] they wont until october

[vored a frog once] How would you know that

[kawagucci] what,.sadgjafdg;fdgjns wtf who is tarstght that

[vored a frog once] thats for me to know and you to never know

[Sayaka Kuroda] That’s Ishikawa.

[kawagucci] how did you not get your name changed

[Sayaka Kuroda] I was the last one so he decided to let me keep my name.

[kawagucci] anyways,,,, ishikawa? Is there something we need to know about you?

[vored a frog once] fuck this, im outta here

_vored a frog once left the chat._

_Chuichi Ishikawa was added to the chat._

[suwugiyama] you don’t get to decide that.

[kawagucci] anyways imma pop out now before another war happens

[Chuichi Ishikawa] ok, dont look at too much tentacle stuff

[Chuichi Ishikawa] also i didnt actually vore a frog, i ate frog once on a dare, it was served at some restaurant or somethin 

[kawagucci] im outta here

Atsumi closed her phone, and finished the last scraps of her meal, before cleaning her plate and leaving it to dry. As she walked towards the basement door, she heard her mother pull up in the driveway. Atsumi rushed downstairs, threw some pajamas on over her clothes, and got under her covers. She could hear her mom enter the house, and heard her go down the stairs to Atsumi’s room. She stood in the doorway for a while, before, seemingly, being content with whatever she was doing, and leaving. Atsumi passed out soon after.

* * *

The next day, Toichiro woke up on time for once. He was worried about Kawaguchi. He didn’t know that much about his friend’s home life, but it did not seem to be good in the least. _I should call her, just… check up on her, make sure she’s okay,_ he thought. He checked the clock on his wall, and realized he had to get to school, so he opted to call her on the train ride there. After grabbing his bag, he made the walk to the train, and after getting a spot, pulled out his phone and called Kawaguchi. After ten rings, the phone picked up.

“And who might you be?” an unfamiliar voice said on the other end of the phone.

“Umm... well, who are you? Because... I called my friend, and you aren’t her,” Toichiro said.

“By ‘friend’, I assume you’re referring to my daughter, Atsumi?” the voice said. _Oh shit,_ Toichiro instantly thought. _That’s her mom. Oh. How do I get her off the phone?_

“Yeah! I’m Toichiro Sugiyama, one of Kawaguchi’s friends. Can I... can I talk to her, please?” Toichiro asked politely. 

“Oh, she left for school already!” _What the fuck? Why doesn’t she have her phone?!_ Toichiro thought. _Oh, shit, she must have taken it or something. But... doesn’t she keep it in her room?_

“Well, uh... I’ll... I’ll talk to her at school, I guess. Nice talk!” Toichiro hung up immediately. _Well, she seems nice... who am I kidding?_ Toichiro thought. _Maybe she doesn’t seem super crazy over the phone, but there’s gotta be a reason Kawaguchi doesn’t wanna talk about her mom._ Toichiro got off the train at his stop, and made the short walk to school. Once he was on campus, he started his search. _I’ve gotta find Kawaguchi now,_ he thought. Then, he realized something. _Oh, I'm just a dumbass. I have class with her, obviously. I can just wait until then._ He relaxed a bit, sitting at a bench and doing his best to collect his thoughts. After a while, a bell rang, signaling to Toichiro that it was time to go to class. He trudged through the hallway, to his first period class, which was math. Making his way to his seat, he waited for Atsumi to enter. When she did, Toichiro gestured for her to come over, and she hurried over, awaiting him speaking.

“Your mom is fucking insane, Kawaguchi,” Toichiro said.

“Shit, did she steal my phone? I noticed it was missing when I was leaving the train,” Atsumi responded.

“Yeah, she did. I don’t know what she’s doing, though,” Toichiro said.

“Probably going through it. She doesn’t want me to have any privacy for some reason,” Atsumi said. “She must just be worried about me, is all.”

“What? No, she’s a controlling crazy bitch and I already hate her,” Toichiro rebuked.

“She’s not that bad, Sugiyama... I need to get to my seat now,” Atsumi replied.

“I…” Toichiro faltered. “I... I mean, it isn’t... this isn’t normal, that’s fucked up and we gotta deal with this later, but... I... just- shit, alright. You should get to your seat. Uehara-sensei’s bound to give you extra work if you aren’t in your seat. And trust me, you do _not_ want extra work from that guy. He’s a psycho when it comes to that stuff.”

“Alright. We’ve definitely gotta talk later. I need to find out how the whole crepe thing went.” And with that, Atsumi went to her seat across the room. Their teacher, Uehara-sensei, a man who looked about thirty, but his hairline suggested otherwise, walked in, and the class sat through a grueling hour of equations and formulas. It went by slowly, with the class unfocused and bored, because Uehara-sensei’s lessons were like that. Eventually, it was time for lunch. Toichiro and the rest of the class went to their usual spot.

“So, uh... you think we’re gonna get the cast list or something today?” Atsumi began.

“No, why- we haven’t even done any of the auditions yet. How- how would we already have been cast? We need to do auditions first, and all that,” Akane said.

“Right. I’m just an idiot. Sorry,” Atsumi finished.

“Nah, all good,” Akane said. “We are gonna start auditions today, though.”

“What parts are y’all going for?” Daishi asked.

“How would we- we haven’t even gotten the scripts yet, Hayashi,” Hina said.

“Jeez, I don’t know,” Daishi responded. "Wait- wait, yeah, we got scripts? Do you... do you not have one?"

"Oh shit, they handed out scripts? I'll need to get a copy," Hina cursed.

“Hey! So,” Atsumi chimed in, “How was the, uh... the crepe thing! Sugiyama, I’m just gonna go ahead and assume you lost the bet.”

“No! That’s where you’re wrong,” Kenkou said. “We decided to go today, instead of yesterday.”

“Oh, _that’s_ why I didn’t hear you either bragging or complaining to me over the phone- it didn’t happen yet. I’m stupid,” Atsumi said.

“Well, he’s gonna be moaning to _you_ tonight,” Kenkou chuckled.

“Could you... could you _not_ say it like that?!” Atsumi shouted, flustered. “That’s just weird!”

“What were you thinking? I was just thinking that he’d be moaning and complaining. Would you care to tell the class what you were thinking?” Kenkou grinned.

“I... fuck you,” Atsumi said.

“Wow, get your head out of the gutter, Kawaguchi,” Chuichi chuckled. “First tentacles, and now this? Damn.”

“That’s not- can you just drop the subject, and quit embarrassing me?!” Atsumi shouted a bit loudly, before realizing she had shouted quite loudly, and stole a glance at Aiya, just to see if she was laughing, or, even worse, scared. _God, I’m a fucking idiot. I shouldn’t raise my voice. Probably scared the shit out of her. Damnit, Atsumi, you stupid bitch. Can’t even not scare your crush. Moron!_ Atsumi thought these things aggressively at herself, but before she was able to get a read on how the girl thought about the current situation, a hand- no, a whole arm was around her shoulder. She looked over to see who’s arm it was, and saw the face of Jun’ichi.

“Don’t worry about it. They’re just fucking with you, you’re all good,” Jun’ichi said. Leaning in closer, to whisper in her ear, he said, “Also, Okazawa isn’t laughing at you, and she’s not scared either, least that’s what I think. Again, you’re fine.”

“Thanks,” Atsumi replied. She was grateful for the distraction from her downward spiral.

“So, um... where were we?” Aiya asked.

“Talking about auditions, I think.” This voice was Mai’s.

“Oh. Right.” At that, the conversation trailed off into silence for a bit, before Aiya spoke up again. “So, um... have you guys decided who you’re going to audition for?”

“I think I’m gonna audition for Ensemble 1,” Chuichi said. “It isn’t a lot, but I’m used to being in an ensemble.”

“Same here, dude. I don’t got any big shit I gotta remember, so it’s more fun,” Ryouta said.

“I’m going to be directing, same with Inoue, so it’s not like I have to audition,” Ichiro said.

“I’ll be auditioning for... Takara, that’s what the character’s name was, right?” Kichisuke questioned.

“Oh, you’re auditioning for Takara too, huh?” Atsumi asked.

“Yeah. Why are you auditioning, though? Isn’t Takara a dude?” Kichisuke asked.

“DId you... it said the characters’ genders could be changed if the casting required as much. Not like it’d change the whole plot if the firefighter was a chick,” Atsumi said. 

“Right. Well, good luck,” Kichisuke said. “If I don’t get it, I’m just gonna go for Yōta. Least, then I’d get to yell at you.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself, Mochizuki,” Atsumi said. “I get to yell at you too if you get that part.”

“I’m gonna audition for Asami,” Risu said. “I actually-” She was cut off by Chuichi, who laughed.

“Is it because of the-” He himself was cut off by Akane, who slapped him.

“No, it’s not because of the straitjacket that Asami is in for most of the play. Risu isn’t-” Akane struggled to get the rest of the sentence out. “That’s not... I-... just stop fucking... we aren’t weird as fuck like you, we don’t all have these things you think we have, so just fucking _stop_ , dude. If you don’t, I’ll just stab you with a knife or something.” A moment of realization crossed Chuichi’s face.

“Oh! That’s your thing! Sadis-” Chuichi was cut off by Hekima leaning over from the other side of the circle the class was sat in, and pushing his head into the dirt for a solid ten seconds.

“Can he... is he able to breathe?” Risu asked.

“Probably?” Hekima responded, unsure.

“Thanks for that, he was being a prick,” Akane said, as Hekima released Chuichi’s face from the dirt she was pressing it to.

“Shit, fuck, okay. Jesus Christ, Fukui. There wasn’t any need to do that!” Chuichi said loudly, waving his arms.

“Can you not... can you please not shout like that?” Sayaka asked, flinching as Chuichi’s arm went near her.

“Oh shit. I’m sorry, Kuroda.” Chuichi immediately lowered his voice and stopped waving his arms. “I... yeah. Should’ve been more mindful about the whole home-”

“Not here, Ishikawa,” Kuroda said, a frail whisper.

“Alright,” Chuichi said. “So, anyways, where were we before I was being a total dick?”

“Who we’re all gonna audition for,” Aiya said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Should I try and restart it, or do we wanna move on?”

“I honestly don’t care too much,” Akane said. “I kinda wanna say who I’m auditioning for, if you don’t mind.”

“No, it’s fine! Go ahead!” Aiya said.

“So, you know how there’s two Kyokos, Fake Kyoko and Real Kyoko?” Akane asked everyone.

“Oh shit, really? I didn’t finish the script, Konishi!” Toichiro said.

“You-” Akane covered her face with her hands, clearly flabbergasted. “We- we’re doing auditions _today_ , Sugiyama. Do you just... not care?”

“Guilty as charged. I honestly have no reason to bother auditioning for one of the bigger parts. Not like I’m gonna get them,” Toichiro said. “May as well chill the whole play. Anyhoo, what were you saying?”

“So, I’m thinking I wanna audition for one of the Kyokos, but for the whole twist thing to work, wouldn’t they have to look alike? Who else wants to audition for the other Kyoko with me?” Akane asked.

“I... like, I sorta look like you?” Narumi said. “So, like, I could audition? I don’t know though.”

“I was thinking about auditioning for Fake Kyoko. Do you... do you guys mind if I still audition?” Sayaka asked.

“Yeah, if you wanna go, I’ll step down,” Narumi said. “I’ll go ensemble.”

“Wait, seriously?!” Sayaka asked, surprised. “You brought it up that you were gonna, so-”

“Nah, it was just an idea. If you care that much, you can have the part. Fine by me,” Narumi replied nicely.

“Oh my gosh! Thank you!” Sayaka exclaimed. “Hey, Okazawa, who are you going to audition for?” 

“Don’t know. Maybe Kaede,” Aiya said.

“Oh, I’m gonna audition for Kaede too!” Ran enthused.

“Nice! Good luck,” Aiya said.

“Anyways, we’re, uh... still gonna do the crepe thing, right?” Daishi asked.

“Oh, yeah. We’re doing it today, remember? I don’t think you heard, but something came up with Akane, remember?” Ichiro replied.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. The brakes on the train kinda got fucked so they had to fix that,” Akane said.

“Hey, hey. It’s all good, we’re still gonna get crepes today,” Kenkou said.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna lose that money,” Toichiro chuckled.

“Hey, Maeda,” Mai muttered.

“‘Sup?” Ryouta replied, in a whisper over Toichiro’s argument with Kenkou.

“Five hundred yen that Sugiyama loses,” Mai replied quietly.

“Deal.” They shook. At that moment, somewhere else in the world, lightning struck some random guy on the street.

“So, uh…” Aratani began. “Which of you guys are gonna do tech? We can’t all do acting, then our show would just be horseshit.”

“No duh,” Daishi said. “I’m gonna be filming, and-”

“That’s not tech, dude,” Jun’ichi said. “That’s just recording stuff.”  
“Yes, it is tech! What are you talking about?” Daishi said.

“Doing tech is like, sound, and lights, and stuff. Film is post-production,” Jun’ichi retorted.

“You literally film during the production. You do the other tech stuff during the production, why would film not also be tech?” Daishi objected.

“Film doesn’t affect the course of the show if it gets fucked up. If you fuck up sound or lights, you fuck up the show for good,” Jun’ichi countered.

“Fair, fair,” Daishi replied curtly.

“Okay, how about this!” Ran interjected, getting in between them as they began to stood. “Film is using technology, so is lights and sound, so film is tech!”

“...Makes sense,” Jun’ichi muttered.

“Okay so, umm... I’ll be doing sound, I guess?” Osamu said, unsure.

“I’ll be doing lights,” Hekima said.

“Eh. We can figure this out all later,” Atsumi interjected.

“You’re right,” Ichiro added. “We should just chill right now.”

“Agreed,” Akane said. “Yo, what the fuck are you eating?!” She was pointing to something in Atsumi’s hand. It was a crepe, stuffed with vegetables including tomato, bell pepper, eggplant, carrot, and sliced yams.

“It’s a vegetable crepe,” Atsumi said, her mouth stuffed with food. “I made it since you guys were talking about how shit vegetable crepes are, apparently. They ain’t that nasty, dude. Want a bite?”

“What? No, you’re already eating it. I’ll just get one myself today,” Akane said.

“Are we still doing that at the same time, guys?” Hina inquired

“It’s at, erm... four, right?” Daishi asked, waiting for confirmation.

“No, five or six. Akane’s gotta get home, remember?” Ichiro asked.

“Yeah. Takes an hour from here to my house,” Akane echoed.

“Alright. So, five. Got it,” Hina said. The conversation dropped off after that. The class ate in silence, before the bell rang at the same time as it did every day. As it occurred daily, the APAC students walked to their class, but the air seemed... different, in a way that none of them could particularly place a word to. Their teacher was late to class, which was the first sign that something was clearly wrong. Yamazaki-sensei was never late. Once she entered, she stood in the doorway, the sunlight illuminating her, before she spoke.

“Okay, so I’m sorry I’m late, kids. I had, um…” Yamazaki-sensei faltered for a moment, before continuing, “There was a thing I had to do.”

“What was it?” Ichiro asked.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Yamazaki-sensei replied, staring idly at the ceiling, before she shook herself to attention. “Anyways, we’re beginning casting today! First step: auditions. I’ll be calling out roles in order of how many lines they have. Most lines first. Those auditioning for Takara, who has 192 lines, get onstage now. A few murmurs of “Shit, didn’t know Takara had that many lines,” and, “Jesus, I feel sorry for whoever gets that part,” circled the room, as Atsumi, Kichisuke, Ran, Ryouta, Toichiro, and Chuichi stepped onto the stage. “Here are some options for sides, you can read over these for a minute and decide which one you’re gonna use,” she said, handing out sides to the students who went on stage. 

Atsumi leaned against one of the backstage walls, reading one of the lines, one where Takara was screaming at... a bunch of corpses? _Which scene was this?!, Atsumi thought._ After reading the monologue, she decided that, out of all the sides she was given, this was the best one. Her thinking was cut off by her teacher’s voice, which called for Atsumi and the others auditioning to start the audition. She was lined up with the five others she was auditioning with, and she was fourth in line. First in line, Ran stepped to the apron of the stage, cleared her throat, and began to speak passionately.

“Look, I don’t care what you tell me! They need me here right now, because those people over there, they can’t do anything to protect themselves! And obviously, you don’t care about any of these people at all!” Ran paused. “Umm... Yamazaki-sensei?”

“Yes?” Yamazaki-sensei asked, patiently.

“There’s another part here? It’s, umm…” Ran paused as she checked the paper. “It’s Yōta’s line next.”

“Alright, then. Mochizuki, you were thinking of auditioning for Yōta. You read his lines.” Yamazaki-sensei decided. “Please resume the audition.”

“Frankly, Takara,” Kichisuke began. “I know you respect me. I certainly respect you, but you’re not in your right mind right now!”

“I’m fine. Just let me do what I need to do! They need me!” Ran shouted.

“There isn’t a _they_ anymore, Takara!” Kichisuke snapped.

“But- I- they’re alive, damnit!” Ran retorted.

“The medical staff is deciding when to take them off life support, Takara.” Kichisuke declared.

“No! Absolutely-” Ran began her line, but was cut off as Kichisuke said his next line.

“You need to come with me. _Now, Takara,_ ” Kichisuke implored, a heavy undertone of anger seeping into his calm tone.

“I’ll have you arrested, damnit! And if you don’t go willingly, I’ll drag you out of here myself!” Kichisuke was screaming now. Nobody viewing the audition was fazed in the slightest, since this was usually the level that the auditions in APAC went to. They had to prove their mettle somehow, didn’t they?

“You’re too weak,” Ran growled. 

“ **_GET OUT OF THIS BUILDING RIGHT NOW, GODDAMNIT!”_ **Kichisuke was screaming from the back of his throat at this point, straining his vocal chords just to be as loud as possible.

With that, Ran simply spat in his face, saying one simple word, quietly: “No.” 

“Alright, you two! That’s quite enough! I’ve seen all I need to see from you two,” Yamazaki-sensei declared.

“Okay,” Ran said. Then, turning to Kichisuke, she said, “Sorry for spitting in your face, my dude.”

“Maybe you could, oh, I don’t know... _not_ do that?” Kichisuke scoffed, wiping the spit off his face.

“Look, you don’t have to be an asshole about it. I was apologizing. It is what it is, I guess,” Ran mused, before walking off the stage, and taking her previous seat.

“Who wants to go next?” Yamazaki-sensei asked, unbothered by the short argument that unfolded in front of her and the whole class.

“I’d like to, if that’s okay,” Toichiro said.

“Alright,” Yamazaki-sensei said. “You have your side ready?”

“Yep,” Toichiro confirmed. “I do need two other people, though. Ishikawa? Maeda? You two cool doing sides with the one I’m doing?”

“Alright,” Ryouta replied.

“Fine by me.” Chuichi responded. The three of them ran through their own audition, before it was Atsumi’s turn, at last. She stepped to the center of the stage, before clearing her throat, and beginning to speak.

“There are still people in there! They aren’t dead!” Atsumi turned to a different portion of the theater, presumably because Takara was speaking to different people. “I know you can hear me, and I need you to listen to what I have to say! All of you, every single solitary one of you, are loved! You are loved unconditionally by all of the people around you! God loves you, I love you, this world loves you, all the people you know love you, but right now, you need to help me! YOU NEED TO REACH BACK TO ME, AS I’VE BEEN DOING THIS ENTIRE TIME TO HELP YOU ALL! ALL I NEED IS ONE PERCENT OF YOUR ENERGY, AND I CAN HELP PROTECT YOU ALL!” At the end of the line, Atsumi was screaming, and did her best to start fake-bawling during her screaming. Then, she dropped to her knees, and caught her breath, muttering a quiet “That’s all,” before walking off the stage, handing her side to Yamazaki-sensei, and sitting in her seat.

“Thank you. I believe that, with that, auditions for the part of Takara have been concluded,” Yamazaki-sensei spoke. “Now we’ll be moving on to the auditions for Kaede, then Asami, and so on and so forth until we complete auditioning. I’ll have the cast list prepared by tonight, and we’ll begin rehearsals tomorrow. We do normal rehearsals for six weeks, then tech rehearsals for the next six weeks. After which we will have our show. That’s the schedule for the semester.” With that, the class resumed the audition process. The energy was high, as it always was during the audition process. Students dumped their hearts out onto the stage with the auditions, as it was custom to do at Usuki Performing Arts Academy. After the exhausting day, Kenkou and company went home, changed, and at five PM that same day, met up at the crepe shop, with the address provided by Kenkou Nakahara.

* * *

“You bring that money to pay me with, Nakahara?” Toichiro boasted, as himself, Kenkou, and the four others walked down the long road to the crepe shop on the side of the road.

“Absolutely,” Kenkou said. “Absolutely fucking _not!_ I’m that confident you’ll lose the bet. I didn’t bring jack shit to pay you with.”

“Wait, you didn’t bring any money?” Toichiro sputtered. “How- how- how the fuck are we gonna pay for the crepes, my dude?!”

“Not a dude,” Kenkou chided. “Nonbinary, remember?”

“Shit. Right. Sorry,” Toichiro apologized. “Hold on, lemme think of a gender neutral term for ‘my dude’, aight?”

“Yeah. Also, about the money thing? No fucking idea.” Kenkou chuckled. Hina caught up to them as they were talking about money, and rolled her eyes.

“Am I going to have to pay for you again, Nakahara?” Hina said.

“Well, you are the super rich friend,” Ichiro called out, from his position a few feet behind the three, where he was talking with Daishi and Akane.

“Yeah, but it don’t mean I’ve gotta pay for everyone, all the time! I’m like, upper middle class at best!” Hina shouted back indignantly.

“Nakahara, my fellow resident of the solar system, did you seriously not think about how even if you lost, you’d need money to buy crepes in the first place?” Toichiro leaned in as he said this, poking Kenkou’s forehead annoyingly. Kenkou guffawed at Toichiro’s sentence, stopping and holding their chest as they laughed raucously, before falling into a coughing fit.

“Hahaha- pfffff- holy shit, hold on, my guy. Did- am- am I a fellow resident of the solar system to you?! Is that all I am to you, after a year of cultivated, amazing friendship?” Kenkou posed dramatically, while putting on the haughtiest tone they could. “Am I nothing less to you than a small insignificant being in the entire fucking solar system?!”

“Shit, I’m sorry, Nakahara. What I meant was that you, like me, are a fellow human being. But, hey, fellow resident of the solar system just sounds much cooler, right?” Toichiro was leaning even more into Kenkou’s space, trying to be as annoying as humanly possible.

“Actually, no.” Kenkou rebutted Toichiro’s claim, before simply stepping backwards, causing Toichiro to fall forward and faceplant into a bush.

“Damn. Those leaves probably taste like shit, with all the pesticide they must have sprayed on ‘em,” Akane said, having caught up, along with Ichiro and Daishi.

“Yeah, dude. You probably shouldn’t have your, uh... your mouth to that for much longer,” Daishi concurred.

“Pesticide doesn’t taste good. Can confirm,” Hina confirmed.

“Why- what? How would you know that?!” Ichiro sputtered.

“Long story. We can talk about it over crepes,” Hina said. “And hey, look! We’re here!” She was indeed correct. They had arrived at the crepe shop, which was called, fittingly, Yamasaki Crepe Shop. The six teens walked into the shop. It was a small place, with a few large printed photos on the walls, which were tiled with a tan ceramic, while the floor consisted of a darker wood paneling. An elderly man walked up to the counter, who had a head of balding grey hair, and was wearing a blue apron. Hina assumed this was the Old Man Yamasaki that Kenkou had talked about when they were telling the class about the crepe shop. “Um…” Hina hesitated for a moment, looking at the menu. “Can I, uh... can I get the one with the tuna?”

“You’ll have to be more specific, lady. There are five different crepe options that have tuna,” Yamasaki said.

“Sheesh. Wow, okay. Uh…” Hina stared for a bit, before pointing at a random one, not looking at any of the ingredients.. “I’ll have that one, please.”

“Wow. You sure you want that one? It’s pretty spicy,” Yamasaki said. When he said that, Hina looked at the ingredients. _Nothing out of the ordinary,_ Hina thought, going over the ingredients in her head. _Tuna, egg, spinach, bhut jolokia- what’s that? I haven’t heard of it before. Um... oh! And chicken. Sounds good._

“Yup! Why not?” Hina asked. “How much is that gonna be?”

“Just 500 yen,” Yamasaki said.

“Wow. That... I really don’t know how much crepes cost, so I don’t know if that’s expensive or not,” Hina admitted. “Well, here you go.” Hina fished out 500 yen from her wallet, and handed it to the cashier.

“I’d say, for how good the crepes are, it’s a decent price,” Yamasaki commented. “Do you kids have orders too? If so, I’ll take ‘em.” At that, Kenkou pushed forward to the front of the group. “Oh. Hey, Nakahara. How are ya, kid?”

“Pretty good. I’ll be handling orders for my friends here,” Kenkou said, leaning onto the counter. “The blond one who looks like he ate shit earlier, that’s Sugiyama. He’ll be getting a vegetable crepe, all the fixings-”

“You serious about that, Nakahara? It’ll be more than usual for all the fixings,” Yamasaki warned.

“Damn right. Umm... Sanayoshi, you ordered already? Okay. Guess you know what you want,” Kenkou rambled. “The kid with the glasses and brown hair is gonna get the one with egg, bacon, potatoes. That one,” Kenkou continued, pointing to various menu items as they spoke. “The other kid with brown hair and glasses is gonna get the one with ham, turkey, cheese, and spinach, I know it’s basic but that’s his style, I guess. The cool motherfucker over there is gonna get the Peach Melba crepe, if, uh... you’ve got the stuff to serve it today. I know it’s a hot commodity, so…” As Kenkou was talking, on the other side of the counter, Yamasaki was writing everything down and nodding, before Akane spoke.

“Am I the cool motherfucker?” Akane asked, proud.

“Fuck yeah! You kinda look like you’d hit a dude with a wrench!” Kenkou enthused.

“Alright. I think I’ve got all your orders down. You guys can wait in here. I don’t really care,” Yamasaki said gruffly. So, the group of six found a table inside, and sat down.

“Yo, Sanayoshi?” Akane questioned.

“That’s my name. What is it?” Hina replied.

“Now’d be a perfect time to tell us that story,” Akane responded.

“Which one?” Hina inquired.

“The pesticide one, you know? The one we were talking about before we got here?” Akane supplied.

“Oh! That one. So, one time, I was at a summer camp, and…” As Hina told the story of how she drank actual, real, pesticide, the smell of crepes wafted into the room, making the atmosphere even better. Then, Yamasaki brought their crepes to the table they were sitting at, and they began to eat.

“Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, what the fuck!? Why is this shit so- oh, fuck, I can’t breathe, oh shit-” Hina started coughing and choking on the crepe, which had bhut jolokia peppers in it. Daishi rushed to Hina’s aid, and ended up getting the spicy pepper out of her throat. Toichiro was so focused on this, that he didn’t even notice when Kenkou started to nudge his shoulder.

“So, you gonna eat that crepe, my dude?” Kenkou nagged. “Come on, it isn’t that bad. It’s just a bit of vegetables. You want to eat healthy, right?” Toichiro returned his gaze to the crepe that lay on the plate in front of him. It was as big as his forearm, and Toichiro assumed it was stuffed to the brim with vegetables.

“Come on, man. No way I can eat that thing,” Toichiro complained.

“I’ll pay you an extra 500 yen if you do,” Kenkou negotiated.

“Deal.” And with that, Toichiro began to scarf down the crepe, occasionally stopping to gripe about whatever new layer of vegetables he encountered. At the end, tears were streaming from his eyes. “Holy sweet mother of fuck.”

“So, do you owe me, or do you owe me?” Kenkou chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah. Fucker. I’ll have your money tomorrow,” Toichiro grumbled.

“Huh. Didn’t think he’d manage to eat the entire thing,” Ichiro noted.

“Eh. It tasted good, so I’m not complaining,” Toichiro said.

“So what have we learned here?” Daishi asked the group.

“One,” Hina said, through shallow breaths, “Do not, under any circumstances, have whatever those fucking bhut jolokia shit peppers or whatever the fuck those are. You will fucking _die_.”

“Good point,” Akane interjected. “Aren’t those, super fucking spicy, or something?”

“That’s what I just fucking said, Konishi,” Hina huffed.

“Whatever. Next?” Akane went on.

“Vegetable crepes are good,” Toichiro admitted solemnly.

“I think that’s it,” Ichiro said.

“So, uhh... we're done here?” Daishi asked. “I do still have some homework to do, so I gotta head home.”

“Oh, yeah. Same here,” Ichiro repeated. 

“We’re heading home, I guess,” Akane said, before grabbing her wallet off the table, shoving it in a jacket pocket, and walked out of the shop. She was followed by Hina, then Ichiro, and Toichiro, and Daishi, until Kenkou was the last one in the shop. They said their goodbye to Yamasaki, before they walked out of the store, and walked home. Eventually, all the students made their way home safe, completely unaware of the events that would occur tonight, and how those events would dramatically shape the rest of their lives. But for tonight, the happiness was quite enough for each of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. This is gonna be a long one. Just gonna say that. By the way, I made a discord server for this. Even though it literally has no reach, I don't care. I made one. Here's the link. https://discord.gg/u9DwVYC


End file.
